In the field of data storage, one challenge is to protect the data from unauthorized access and loss. For example, some people (or other entities) may attempt to access data that they are not authorized to access. Or, a device on which the data is stored may malfunction or get stolen, thereby resulting in loss of the data stored on that device.
Commercial expectations or a regulatory framework may call for some degree of protection against unauthorized access or loss. For example, when a company is in the business of storing data, the company's customers may expect the company to protect the privacy of the data, and to ensure that the data will be available for retrieval in the future. Medical data is one example of data that may be protected from unauthorized access or loss. Patients and healthcare providers—and often legal regulatory frameworks—expect that medical data will be kept private and will be guarded against loss.
Many systems that protect against unauthorized access and data loss have been inadequate.